Port Inn

What People are saying

Nice stay

pineapple1234 on 23/01/2018 21:56

I stayed for 1 night at Port Inn. The location is very good, just 5 minutes from the Baha'i Gardens, in the German Colony. The building is small but modern with electronic fob keys to open the doors. I was a bit disappointed that the breakfast was not included (40 NIS extra) so I didn't have it. However they did give me a free map and some advice on the places to visit.

Lovely quaint hostel in Haifa city

SamMcCormack on 31/12/2017 02:34

Stayed here for just one night and would have loved to stay longer.

The girl at reception when I was checking in was friendly and helpful, showing me maps and also bringing me up to my room.

Hostel has a wonderful atmosphere, with couches in the living room, books to borrow, and even an outdoor garden/ seating area.

My dorm room had around 9 beds, so was larger than I'd usually go for. However, it was a very pleasant dorm room with a balcony facing the street.

Bathrooms were located in the hall, and were generally clean.

Breakfast the next morning was one of the best breakfasts I've seen in a hostel, with a wide selection of items to choose from, even lemonade!

The girl at checkout was unfortunately not as pleasant as the girl who had checked me in, and was quite blunt and unhelpful when I was enquiring about directions and bus routes to the Baha'i gardens. However, I won't allow one person to spoil my overall stay.

I really enjoyed my time at this hostel and would have loved to stay a bit longer! When I'm back in Haifa again I will definitely stay here.

No place to sit after 10:45pm, smoking staff, bad shower, no lockers

Deborah S on 25/12/2017 12:12

I have no idea how this hostel gets such great reviews. I think that comes from those in private rooms. I stayed in the woman's dorm and it was one of the most frustrating in 10 years of hostel stays.

The good points:
The building itself is very nice. Great garden area. The common area is like a comfortable living room. Good key system. Great location. Good although small kitchen for us to use. Excellent price-included breakfast as well. A clothing line outside the dorm window was very convenient, too. There is a really nice computer area!

However, that's where the good ended for me.
The reception desk can be locked independently of the common areas, but for some frustrating reason, they choose to close the entire place. By 11pm you have 3 options if you don't go to sleep:
1) Sit outside and either be cold, wet, or bitten up by mosquitos (and walk around the block to re-enter).
2) Sit on the cold hard steps inside.
3) Stay in the dorm and keep your 7 innocent roommates awake.
There is no reason for this!

There are no lockers. I asked about lockers in 2015 and didn't stay because they saw no need for them. 2 years later, they still lack lockers. Your only option is for them to keep your items at the desk. (I didn't see if that's a safe and the desk is not always manned.) There is room in the 8-bed dorm for some lockers so again, no excuse.

The shower in my room and the bathroom in the room:
1) Water doesn't have any way to come from the top. There is no connection for this.
2) The handheld and the receptacle for this don't match in size and there is no way to prop the handheld up. You have to shower 1-handed.
3) The shower had no shelf so you had to squat in the tiny stall to get your soap. (The owner put a rack in when I told her this.)
4) You must close both door sides in order for the door to not let the water out. But the walls and doors had mold, so I didn't want to touch them.
5) When the floor gets soaked you can use the typical squeegee to push the water, but there is no typical drain to push the water into. Because of this, the wet floor got dirty and there were dirty wet footsteps in the room as well.
I discussed this with the owner who was nice about it and said she had no idea. However, the shower was designed this way and no one ever checked it? The fix is so easy, but it shouldn't have been that way during my stay.
The owner pointed out that there's another bathroom down the hall. Yes, there is - and there are other rooms using that one as well. It's far better to have separate toilets and showers and to have to ensuite showers actually work.
NOTE: The 2 people in private rooms weren't thrilled with their showers either. I didn't see them.

The room:
1) Happily, there was a great screen on the dorm window. Not in the bathroom window though. At some point, I received over 5 bites a night here.
2) The blankets are uncovered acrylic. You are giving a bottom and top sheet and pillowcase. In most other dorms these days you get a cotton duvet cover. I was lucky it was warm these December nights so I could use only the top sheet.
3) To the hostel's credit, each bed has a personal light and an electrical outlet. However, no shelf there to rest your phone or battery. I had to find a way to prop up my phone so it would stay plugged in.
4) No hooks by your bed. No night table. I used one of the 2 chairs. One bed had a night table. (There's a coat rack with hangers in the far part of the room but I wouldn't hang my clothing where there was not-clean-smelling clothing hanging. Separate by each bed is far better.)

The common area:
There is a screenless (mosquito-entering) door from here to the garden. It was open all the time. Nice for fresh air, but not at all nice that there was nearly always a staff member smoking immediately outside the door. There was no smokeless air to be breathed downstairs. (To be clear, there is no common area upstairs.)

The computer area is also locked up around 10:30 so sitting in there is not an option.

There are many nice restaurant-style tables and chairs. Great during (the really good) breakfast. Some are locked during the day because it's kitchen area, but some are not. I liked using those. (Cigarette smoke reached this less and there was a power outlet.) However, this area is also off limits after 10:45. Also, staff and then somehow-elite-groups were allowed in the kitchen area and they were incredibly noisy, failing to have respect for people working on the other side of the see-through gate.

Price:
Maybe Haifa is incredibly more costly than Jaffa Street in Jerusalem? At Abraham Hostel, I pay the same amount for an 8-bed that has bring-your-own-lock lockers, warm cotton blankets, freshly washed duvet covers you place on this blanket, in-room toilet, separate in-room shower room, hooks for your things, a shelf by the outlet that's at each bed. There, the huge common room closes at midnight but the lobby has seats for us.

To sum it up, I feel it was nice during the day if I got to the down-the-hall shower and ignored the sore-throat feeling from the disagreeable smoke, but I felt forced to go to sleep at night and I hated not having access to my electronics whenever I needed them. This place is so close to being fantastic but misses due to policy and not seeing what they can do for comfort.

EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE!!

Jack M on 20/12/2017 06:40

Great spot and great location! Clean beds and great breakfast! I ended up staying here twice. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!

The staff were great. Very friendly and helpful. They went out of their way more then once to help! I was very impressed and grateful.

Also recommend the Haifa pub crawl which is run out of the Port Inn. Doesn't matter how old you are or what you are into, Tzuk is great and will take you to some really cool and underground places before finished with a bang, if you want. There is something for everyone.

Horrible service

hamza k on 10/12/2017 21:03

Its not really the hotel ... But the staff is rude unprofessional and really don't know how to work !! And the girl in the reservation was just the most rude person i ever talk too... She didn't agree even to call the manger for me ... I got everything video recorded but I can't upload it here !!